Dragon Turtle
|upkeep_cost = |num_figures = |moves = / |melee = * |defense = |resist = * |hits = |abilities = Fire Breath 5 * }} The Dragon Turtle is a type of Normal Unit. This unit is unique to the Lizardmen Race, and can only be built in Lizardmen towns, for the Construction Cost of . The town must already contain both an Armorers' Guild and Stables for this to be possible. The Dragon Turtle is a powerful Melee Attacker, capable of chomping through armor with ease, and thus having a good chance of inflicting at least some damage to any target. Even before charging into Melee, the Dragon Turtle also unleashes a powerful Fire Breath attack that can kill a few enemy figures before the fight even begins. The Dragon Turtle's shell is extremely tough, and the creature can take a lot of damage before being destroyed. Coupled with its fast movement speed, these traits make the Dragon Turtle a fearsome opponent on the battlefield. In addition, the creature is at home on both land and water, and can cross Oceans at a good speed. A Dragon Turtle requires an Upkeep Cost of and to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically. Unit Properties Physical Description The Dragon Turtle unit is comprised of a gigantic sea turtle ridden by a single Lizardman. The turtle is a massive reptile with a sharp beak and a hard shell covering almost its entire body. Despite its lumbering size and stubby flippers, the Dragon Turtle is surprisingly fast, both on land and in water. The beast's rider is a bipedal lizard-like humanoid clad in green scales, whose entire job is to direct the Dragon Turtle towards its prey. The Dragon Turtle is one of the few Normal Units. Attack Properties The Dragon Turtle has the one of highest strengths of any Normal Unit. Furthermore, when charging at an enemy it first delivers a Fire Breath attack that can cause some extra damage. Still, as a , the Dragon Turtle's attack is actually stronger against well-armored Fantastic Creatures than it is against other Normal Units, but is still quite fearsome in all situations. The Dragon Turtle's Melee Attack strength is . Because creation of a Dragon Turtle normally requires an Armorers' Guild, the unit will already have one free by default, thus increasing its attack score to . With no additional bonuses, the creature causes an average of per attack - high enough to almost guarantee damage to any target. Furthermore, when the Dragon Turtle makes a voluntary Melee Attack against an enemy unit, it first executes a Fire Breath attack with a default strength of . Again, since Dragon Turtles will usually start with one free Experience Level, this strength is increased to 6 - for an average damage output of . Any enemy that actually gets killed by this attack cannot deliver any Melee Damage back at the Dragon Turtle. When fighting enemy low-tier Normal Units, expect at least one enemy to be killed off this way. All told, this amounts to a formidable attack. However, remember that the Dragon Turtle is only a single , so its attack is overall roughly comparable to that of a low-tier Normal Unit. Its primary advantage is that it can reliably hurt other well-armored , like Heroes and some Fantastic Creatures, but is slightly less useful against . Note that the Dragon Turtle may not use its Fire Breath when Counter Attacking. Also note that opponents with Magic Immunity or Fire Immunity will shrug off any damage from this attack. The Fire Breath ability also allows a Dragon Turtle to initiate Melee Attacks against enemy Flying units. Defense Properties The Dragon Turtle enjoys the protection of very heavy armor. It has a Defense score of , which will block about from any attack. This is comparable to some of the most well-armored Fantastic Units' defense scores, and means that opponents will be hard-pressed to get any damage through. Ranged Attacks, in particular, will usually have issues hurting a Dragon Turtle at all. The Dragon Turtle also has a respectable pool of Hit Points to fall back on, with a total of when fully-healed. This means that even damage that does get through the unit's armor will need to slowly chip away at the Hit Points in order to kill the Dragon Turtle. These factors put the Dragon Turtle high on the survivability scale. While it is not as hard to kill as some of the high-tier Fantastic Units, it is still more than a match for any Normal Unit. For purposes of defending against Curses and other combat maledictions, the Dragon Turtle has a very high Resistance score of . Since Dragon Turtles tend to be produced with an extra , they will actually start off with - making them very resilient against all such effects. With additional Experience, a Dragon Turtle can easily become completely immune to a very large number of maledictions and Special Attacks. Other Properties Dragon Turtles are faster than most Normal Units, moving at . This is crucial if they wish to utilize their Fire Breath, and allows the Turtle to chase down its targets (especially enemy Heroes and Ranged Attack units). Furthermore, like all Lizardmen units, the Dragon Turtle can also Swim at a rate of . It can move across Ocean tiles on the overland map, and can participate in naval combat with the same movement speed. This allows Dragon Turtles to make assaults over the Oceans, and reinforce towns on other continents. Lizardmen contain no other units that can travel on oceans this quickly. Basic Strategy Dragon Turtles form the primary offensive arm of the Lizardmen military. They are designed to kill enemy units with brute force - particularly heavily-armored . In a "classic" battle involving Lizardmen, the infantry is tasked with engaging the enemy and holding him in place, using their high Defense scores and Hit Points to survive for a few turns. While they do so, the Dragon Turtle will rush towards the most dangerous enemy unit on the battlefield and relentlessly attack it until it dies. Again, the Dragon Turtle's high Melee Attack will easily go through armor, and though it may take a few turns to kill any enemy unit, the Dragon Turtle itself is usually tough enough to survive that long. It is quite useful for killing enemy Heroes and some lower-tier Fantastic Units. The Turtle's speed allows it to chase down its prey effectively. If possible, try to always initiate Melee combat yourself, rather than allowing the enemy to attack the Dragon Turtle. This allows the Turtle to make its Fire Breath attack, possibly killing off enemy figures before they can retaliate (and thus reducing damage to the Dragon Turtle during the enemy's Counter Attack). This is more important when fighting enemy Normal Units, but is helpful in most cases anyway. Do not let the Dragon Turtle get surrounded; withdraw and look for another opportunity to charge at the enemy instead. Dragon Turtles are well-armored and have plenty of Hit Points, but don't expect them to be invincible. They can charge up to a Ranged Attack unit quite safely, but may be killed in battle with a strong enemy Fantastic Unit or even some high-level Normal Units, if other units do not move in to assist them. Coordination with Javelineers can tip the balance in your favor. Either use the Javelineers to hold the enemy in place while the Dragon Turtle maneuvers towards it, or engage with the Turtle first and then pelt the enemy with javelins in support. The Dragon Turtle can usually survive a couple of combat rounds while the Javelineers weaken its enemy. Dragon Turtles become available surprisingly early in the game, and by the time they do, it should be easy to produce large numbers of them quickly. They are surprisingly cheap both to create and to maintain compared to other high-tier Normal Units. A large army of Dragon Turtles, preferably mixed with Javelineers, can easily become your primary strategy. Use Dragon Turtles to make sudden strikes along your enemy's coastlines, and retreat to the Oceans for healing if necessary. No enemy is safe on an isolated continent when Dragon Turtles are about. Ability Overview Fire Breath 5 * Whenever this unit makes a Melee Attack against an enemy target, it also delivers a Fire Damage Breath Attack with a strength of per . * As a Breath Attack, this damage is delivered before the enemy gets the chance to retaliate. Any in the target unit that are killed by the attack do not get to deliver any Melee Damage. * This Breath Attack does not occur when the unit is Counter Attacking against an enemy assailant. * This effect does nothing against targets possessing the Magic Immunity or Fire Immunity abilities. Experience Table The following table illustrates how Dragon Turtles improve as they gain Experience. Any properties that are not listed here do not improve with Experience in any way. * To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Crusade spell must be in play. ** To achieve this level, both the Warlord Retort and the Crusade spell must be in play simultaneously. Average Damage Output The table below details the average amount of damage that a Dragon Turtle will deliver with each type of attack, based on . It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to figure out the chance of hurting that target. Acquisition Dragon Turtles are unique to the Lizardmen faction, and thus may be produced in any Lizardmen Town. A town must contain both the Armorers' Guild and the Stables to be able to produce Dragon Turtles. Should a town lose either its Armorers' Guild or Stables, it can no longer produce Dragon Turtles until replacement structures are built. Note that this building requirement means that Dragon Turtles produced in towns will always start as "Regular" troops (one free Experience Level), giving them a small but significant bonus above the default unit strength. The Construction Cost of this unit is . Dragon Turtles may appear for hire as Mercenaries. They may already have some Experience on being hired, and several units may be hired simultaneously. Hiring these units requires a certain cost in that depends on many different factors. Dragon Turtle Mercenaries have the same Upkeep Cost as a normally-constructed unit. Category:Units Category:Normal Units Category:Lizardmen